Google’s getting into the cable TV business

Google said today it’s getting into the cable television business as part its high-speed Internet service being launched in Kansas City. In doing so, Google will compete with the likes of Comcast, AT&T’s U-verse and Direct TV.

The TV experience will not only be available on regular TVs in HD quality but also on iPads and Android tablets, via a Google Fiber TV app. It also includes a DVR-service that includes two terabytes of storage.

Google’s recently introduced Nexus 7 Android-based tablet will serve as the remote control for the TV service.

So far, the pickings are slim in terms of channels and providers.

The channel is list is extensive and includes a lot of channels I’ve never heard of — you can click to it here — but also appears to be missing some biggies. There’s Showtime and Encore, but no Disney, no HBO. Also nothing from Time Warner, which includes HBO, TNT and TBS. (Also no BBC America which is what I’ve been watching lately. What can I say? I like “Top Gear”!) Also nothing from News Corp. which includes Fox News, fx and the Fox regional sports networks. (Note: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.) Also, since MTV and Nickelodeon are on the list, it’s clear that Google has done a deal with Viacom, even though Viacom is still suing Google over YouTube. Okay then!

To get either the Internet or TV service, there will be a $300 construction fee. Prices start at $70 a month for just the Internet service, which runs at a zippy 1 gigabit a second, and $120 a month if you add TV.

By contrast, Comcast’s fastest Internet service of 105 Mbps costs $200 a month by itself. The most expensive bundle from Comcast is $240 for TV, Internet and phone.

Kansas City was picked last year from several cities that had vied to be the testbed for Google’s gigabit Internet service. But not everyone in the city will get it. The Associated Press reports that Google will only provide the service in those neighborhoods where enough people want it. Residents have six weeks to pre-order the service.

Google has not said how or when it might expand to other cities. Would you want to see this in Houston?

OMG I was just thinking about this the other day, we need coaxial competition in Texas all over. I was thinking to myself that Google would be a great company for this, and look here.. I must be psychic.

One thing I truly would like to see in the TV entertainment delivery is “à la carte” channel section. The consumer would have the option to choose the channels they want. Put them in packages “200 Channels for $70 and 300 channels for $110″ and such, except we could choose the channels we want in the 100,200 or 300… packages.

I don’t want shopping channels, religious channels and most sports channels..
Local Channels and certain news channels should be the only required channels you must include in your package (for emergency information and such).

IF you were allowed to do that you would be getting over charged for a small amount of channels. Theres a reason cable companies dont do that and it’s called money. Most cable boxes allow you to create a favorites list to remove all channels you never watch from the guide.

Bring it on. I foresee the problem mainly being with existing contracts throughout areas of town. It’s basically how the cable companies effectively maintain monopolies in a supposedly free market. You want fast internet, well that leaves you with Comcast or Fios. Let me know anywhere around town where those two overlap…exactly. You can get Verizon’s low speed cable internet service overlapped with Comcast areas, but who would go with 3mb speeds over 25+mb? Heck, in my neck of the woods you can’t even get Uverse as an option…just Comcast, Verizon (low speed), and a handful of low speed jobbers.

Anything is better than AT&T. It’s sad in Houston Antenna TV broadcast. I counted today and there are quite a few more Spanish TV channels than English speaking channels and they don’t have to pay squat for them.

“The channel is list is extensive and includes a lot of channels I’ve never heard of but also appears to be missing some biggies. no Disney, no HBO. Also nothing from Time Warner, which includes HBO, TNT and TBS. (Also no BBC America which is what I’ve been watching lately. What can I say? I like “Top Gear”!) Also nothing from News Corp. which includes Fox News, fx and the Fox regional sports networks.”
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Perhaps these companies don’t take too kindly to Google monetizing their content for free through ad networks & piracy? Hmmmmm…..

Without disparaging or commenting on the current providers of broadband connectivity in my area I would sign up in a minute for Google’s services. I would hope that long term Google might begin to extend their services to include broader reaching wifi services so that I would not have to depend on the AT&T and Verizon’s of the world to offer me constrained mobile “broad”? band!